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"I can belch and hunt with my bare hands as well as the rest of them," Dax said, holding up a sassy finger, "but I like to think my manners can be quite nice, when I want them to be." He leaned forward and conspiratorially whispered, "You haven't seen me eating with my hands, have you?"

"Are you sure that's not just an excuse?" she said. "Like, if someone asks 'were you raised by orcs', as an equivalent of 'were you raised in a barn'--and then you say that actually, you were, and you find that offensive? Or, like, they just go 'oh, you poor dear', and excuse whatever manners they thought were bad to begin with because they think you actually were raised by orcs?"

Dax grinned. "I kid, I kid—I know my World One geography. Now, me, I was raised in an orc tribe in the northern wilds of Faerûn. Cross my heart, that's the truth."

Truth be told I've barely even started most of these projects, but I think they're the most likely to go anywhere if I ever actually apply myself to writing a proper novel.

The Bastion Walls

The sun beat down, the Walls rose up, and six sets of hoofbeats drummed out a canter on the red desert sands

Fantasy. A bright young dragoon captain, one of the few survivors of the Eight Bastion, must set musket ball and sabre against demon fangs and claws, and lead his men to safety.

The New London Paranatural Society

For the first time in forty years, Gregory Allen Fielding stood beneath a silver sun, and found nothing.

Urban Fantasy-ish. Just about every myth and monster exists, they just left. Their world's the High Road, our world's the Low Road, but you probably won't end up in Scotland if you follow that first one. Sort of like Van Helsing in the 1800s, only with harmonica rifles and Werewolves in waistcoats.

H.O.M.E. Away from Home

Something's following us, I'm sure of it. I'm going to prove it, I'm going to catch it, and who knows, maybe this will finally convince my boss to give me a raise?

Soft sci-fi. A gunner on a rundown space station is sure she's spotted something moving in the dark, and she's fairly certain human ships don't have quite so many tentacles.

The Bloody Harvest

I haven't actually got an opening line for this one shhhh

Fantasy, with some horror/mystery thrown in. A man seeking to marry science and magic moves to the village of Orchran Hills to pursue his craft in peace, but when he's framed for murder and black magic, he finds there may be more to the small town than he hoped.

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Now, as for your pitches, I was really torn between the first two. I like the sound of the Kraken-Knights setting, but The Next Great Wizard won out. It just seems like the kind of story that appeals to me. That "Or is that just me?" Bit at the end of the first line just grabbed me.

The Words of the Voice also sounds like an interesting concept, and holy hatstands do I love the first line for Gravity's Embrace. That is a hook and a half, sir. Well done.

"I'm just from World One, though--Canada, if you have any idea where that is. My family's still living there--well, my biological family. I've definitely got a few people here who couldn't be anything but family by now."

"I'll definitely keep that in mind," she said, shifting back. "These days, it's all the big stuff—Avengers, Star Wars, Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings—I actually kind of miss my smaller fandoms. Not that I like seeing badfic for them," he added hurriedly. "Though that does remind me, where are you from? I come from Dungeons and Dragons. Tabletop RPG, if you haven't heard of it."

"Aw, lovely," she said. "I always liked Eilonwy. You should read--reread?--the series, if you don't mind a recommendation. It's really good, and it holds up really well."

Dax looked up at the ceiling, rubbing his chin. "Ah! Princess Eilonwy work for you?" she asked as she morphed. "Sorry, I haven't heard about that series since, oh, three years ago in Intelligence?" She brushed her hair over her shoulder, smiling.

She almost wished he'd stuck with Jacques' face--odd as that was, hearing Jacques-but-not-Jacques (and not Jack, either) speak, she was at least used to him by now. This was new.

Still, shapeshifting? That was pretty cool, even if she could technically do it herself with the disguise generator. Maybe just trying to pretend he was Jacques would help with talking, too.

She smiled. "I don't know about the potential partners thing, unless you mean temporary agent partners, but...do you know the Chronicles of Prydain? They get almost no badfic, so I hardly ever get to go there, but it's been a favorite series of mine for years. I'd love to see characters from it face to face again."

Dax's smile widened and his features morphed into Jacques' likeness. "Tall, handsome, with a jawline that could cut steel..." He smiled at Dawn. "And yes—you'd be very correct that I've got a lot of faces. Comes with being a shapeshifter." He leaned back as he returned to his first, elven body. "I find potential partners sometimes like to make requests, if that's your thing."

"Wait...Dax." She frowned, eyeing him. "If that isn't your only face, and believe me, I don't mean to suggest you have a lot of them at once, but if it isn't, then I've heard about you too." Including some things I wish I hadn't, especially now I'm probably sitting across from you.

"Dawn McKenna? I've heard a lot about you from Jacques Bonnefoy, if you're her. Either way—" He returned to his seat, steepling his fingers and smiling. "I look forward to getting to know you better."

She shook his hand, smiling. "You've probably seen me around, too--I've been an agent for ages, and there's only so long you can be here before half of HQ's passed you in the hallways."

"No, please, do sit!" he said, hurriedly getting up from his seat to pull the other chair out for her. "You look familiar too, but I couldn't say where from..." He shook his head and held out a hand. "Dax, DIC. May I say it's lovely to meet you, miss...?"

Well, more the movieverse sort, but Elves were Elves, to some extent...

"Hi," she said cheerfully. She'd worn the same thing she'd worn on a short, easy mission earlier that day, which was to say her skirt was colorful, her shirt was black and had a potted cactus flashpatch on the shoulder, and her hair was in its usual very long braid. She'd redone the latter for neatness and added a ribbon into the braiding as her sole concession to being at an event. "Do you mind if I sit? I thought I'd start with someone I don't know, and while I do think I've seen you around a few times, I'm pretty sure we've never actually met."

I checked And It Goes All The Way Down; that's a fantastic first line, and the concept is exciting. But I also love Chemistry or Alchemy?, because... well, I'm a chemist, and there should be more chemist protagonists (even if they're alchemists). ^_^

It also sounds a bit like the Magician's House quartet, which I loved growing up. So it gets bonus points for that.

hS

Pilots from New Etruria and the Celtic League (among other nations) essentially act as their ships' computers; for the duration of their service, they are treated as identical with their ships. It's all a bit weird. ;)

So yes, NES Areatha is both a human and a spaceship.

hS

(The Nanovels I have no longer hold my interest, so these are actually just ideas I have bouncing around, some of which I've done some writing on, some of which I have not.)

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And It Goes All the Way Down

The elevator shaft in the heart of Brinten Complex is four square meters of empty space, and it goes all the way down.

Soft sci-fi. Brinten is a Class-III city planet that has just been unified by a relentless warlord. At least, the top one hundred levels have been unified--no one really knows how deep the city goes. Lord Asher is eager to find out.

Invincibility Isn't As Fun As It Sounds

My name is actually "Bulwark," but everyone calls me "Chump Block."

Superheroes. Lux City was supposed to be an international utopia, where anyone could live and prosper in peace. Unfortunately, the supervillains took over a long time ago.

Congratulations, You've Been Abducted!

"Unidentified ship, this is Ensign Mary Starwright of the Archimedes University of Galactic Navigation, aboard the Greenspire 221. Please state your name, origin, and intent."

Soft sci-fi. A promising starship captain is abducted--to be a contestant on an intergalactic game show.

Should I Major in Chemistry, or Alchemy?

Student loans almost got me killed by a dragon.

Fantasy. In an effort to pay for her degree, Jamie takes a summer job as a housekeeper in a secluded Highlands mansion. When she arrives, she finds out that the owner of the mansion is actually an alchemist, and she's looking for an apprentice.

Which one, which one?

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By the way, I put down The Kraken-Knights, but it was a very close tie between that and The Next Great Wizard, and honestly, I like the sound of all your pitches. I would read any (or all) of them.

Thanks for starting this, hS!

-Alleb

"and the message said this was a place to get to know people, so here I am."

She looked around the room. "Uh, this is the speed dating event, right?"

Here are a couple of the different stories that I've worked on, or am working on.

One of them actually did get picked up by a local publisher, but they went out of business and I never got to see it come to fruition. Can you guess which one? :P

I only have three to offer, rather than five. Sorry!

The Pureblades (Urban fantasy)
What happens when you gain magic that was never yours to begin with?
A young boy learns his older sister is a member of a group that hunts demons, and joins as well, taking what was rightfully his best friend's place.

The Cycle of Worlds (...Fourth-wall breaking humor? Is there a genre for that?)
So, yeah, you died. And the author's gotten lazy and decided your role is to save the multiverse from a megalomaniacal tyrant. Have fun!
When people die, their souls are ferried across the boundaries of reality by Death to be reborn as an entirely new species on a completely different planet. Most people don't remember their past lives, but a rare handful do.

Neither Heir nor There (portal fantasy is the right term, hS?)
This is why you don't put children in charge of Mac Guffins.
Two friends had a sleepover as children. One of them lost an amulet that had been passed down through the family. Years later, long after falling out of touch, the other found the amulet, just in time to get kidnapped into a fantasy world and proclaimed the heir to a world-saving power.


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"What'cha want?"

Is the summary for Gravity's Embrace suggesting that the spaceship itself is approaching him? That's the impression I'm getting, anyway.